The U L T R A™ Event, July 15 - August 15

"Roman Godde of The SL Registry™ in collaboration with Bad Unicorn are proud to present a brand new event called, U L T R A™ Event, that will commence on May 15 to June 15, 2016 and every other month thereafter.

A fascinating cluster of shops flanking a modern, one of a kind atrium promenade, rich with Palm Springs charm. A total of 35 elite Second Life designers will offer a truly unusual array of exclusive fashion, furnishings and all things from antique to contemporary.

From July 15 - August 15 (the) U L T R A™ Event will showcase the products and services available from the most prestigious luxury brands across the grid, which include men's and women's fashion, luxury automobiles, real estate, fine jewelry, mesh avatars, animations, skins, hair, accessories, furnishings, home and garden and much more.

For connoisseurs seeking the very best and the latest that Second life has to offer, The U L T R A™ Event is the essential one stop luxury resource."

Your luxury transportation awaits to take you to The U L T R A™ Event (SLurl).

The Skin Fair 2014

The SecondLife annual Skin Fair of 2014 opened on Friday. 

I haven't dared go there yet and am waiting for the true-blue fashionistas, like my bosom buddy Apmel Goosson, to be done with it first. 

As Apmel discovered after being kicked off the sims twice the fair has strict script limits and enforces them diligently. (See My Avatar's Name is Apmel: Kicked out from Skin Fair)

This is what the organizers have to say about about script limits on the events webpage The Skin Fair 2014.

"As with any big event there are some guidelines to help make your experience the best that it can be. Get rid of ALL scripted items. This includes hairs, booties, hands, feet and the like….not only your ao and radar detectors. Wear a system layer bikini. *gasp* Did you just say system layer? Yes, when you go to a high traffic sim, there is bound to be lag and while we do our best to minimize it, mesh items take longer to rezz and most likely all people will see are your alpha layers. No way to impress is it? So dig out that hot lil bikini (sorry ladies but you must wear something to cover them nips as the event is PG) and wear it proudly. Nowadays most hair is scripted in one form or another, and this can be an issue for your script count, so I suggest finding a gorgeous hair base and rocking that look. These measures should help you when you arrive to skin fair, and not only not get you booted, but let you try on skins easily."

There are three sims of skins and other goodies and no less than 122 designers participating in the event. 

Skin Fair 1

Skin Fair 2

Skin Fair 3

Participating Designers

Divalicious - Apple May - White Widow - VCO - The Shape HQ - Chary - Izzie’s - SLink - Glam Affair - Baby Princess - YS & YS - Tuli - Zibska - Bite & Claw - Zoul Creations - Lumae - Belleza -  Amacci - vive9 Fiore - Akeruka - SYS - H.O.E. Inc - PXL - Nar Mattaru - tokyo Girl - Clemmm -  PixyStix - morphine - MUA - Fake - Precious - Kooqla - Shakeup - DyVersatile - Rozena - Kokolores - Fashionably Dead - Utopiah - Black Pearl - Buzzeri - Swallow - Curious Kitties - RyuuKou - Orage Creations - Moda - Filthy - Zanzo - Egozy - Style by Kira - League - La Petite Morte - Addy Style - Aeros - The Skinnery - My UglyDorothy - Lara Hurley - Birdy - Nuuna - Red Mint - Glance - Dream Ink - Deesses - Silken Moon - Adore & Abhor - Oceane - N.M+ - BoobieLicious - Nox - Ab Fab - Soiree - Rockberry - Envy Me - The Plastik Shine - Elysium - TSG - Adam n Eve - Blush - Atomic - Labyrinth - Esode - VYC - MOJO - ND/MD - deeTalez - Essences - Tuty’s - Pointillage - No7 - Dulce Secrets - Joli - The Mesh Project - Nivaro - Mimi’s Boutique - Iren - Oohlalicious - Clef de Peau - elephante poses - anymore store - Rosy Mood - Logo - Loud Mouth - Skindustrial Bodyworks - Madrid Solo - La Malvada Mujer - YumYums - 7 Deadly Skins - Pink Acid - Razzanova - WoW Skins - blacklace  - Beauty - *(00)*YUKI - Jalwa - Eye Candi - Dead Apples - Modish - Mystic Canvas - Nuuna - Ruby Skins - Arm Candy - New Faces - Okkbye

Memories of Bygone Days

In preparation for the upcoming week long celebration of the life and times of Marcus Steeplechase, who recently passed away, old treasures have been unearthed and again see the light of day. The old Ironworks Club is being erected again at this location and friends of mine have already visited.

When I logged into my Facebook-account today I was first struck by the amount of pictures my name had been tagged in, but soon realized why. A display from 2007 has been found in Marcus' Inventory showing frequent visitors to the club or maybe it was participants in a photo contest? I cannot remember anymore. 

Among those shown in the display is the 6-8 months old me (third row from top, seventh from the left in the top picture). I still remember the hair and skin I am in very well, they were among the very first things I ever bought in SecondLife. To my left you see my then friend Drizz and fifth to my right is my brother in-law Dej. The whole display is full of familiar names, some of whom are still with us to this day.

A few months in SecondLife had finally made it clear to me that camping was not a worthwhile way to earn the money I needed. After having briefly considered the sex-trade I shrugged it off and decided to plug in my credit card instead, promising myself dearly that I would never ever spend more than  L$5,000 a month. Ah, the sweet innocence of youth...

In the beginning I did not at all want to look one bit like a Swede, but instead chose dark brown hairs and skins with California suntans (I seem to remember that this particular skin was named Hermes, but I am not sure.).

It wasn't until later, during my first year with Ars, that my appearance started to revert more to my first life looks with blond hair and lighter skin tones, because I realised I felt more comfortable that way. Of course the fact that blond hair finally stopped being a strange yellowish may have helped.

The 24 - August 23-31, 2013

I am sorry for not having noticed this before, but there is still time to go get great outfits for late summer and fall. Some of the limited edition stuff may be sold out already though, but there is lots of more good stuff. So go there and shop til you drop.

For your own sanity don't bring along someone who constantly tells you that things are not rezzing for them, it gets a bit tiresome even for someone like myself who, as you must know already, am well known to be the most patient man in SecondLife.

Here is the full notecard with the information.

24 Amazing Menswear Designers...
24 Wonderful Womenswear Designers...
24 Fabulous Home Designers...
24 Marvelous Pose Designers...
1 Week... 

Will you be able to snap up all these hot limited edition exclusive finds? 

AVENUE, Designing SL, KMADD, The Nest, and The Gay Archipelago along with Siren Productions are excited to bring you The 24. This wonderful event takes place August 23rd-31st, 2013. 24 amazing menswear, womenswear, home, and pose designers have come together by invitation only to create Exclusive Limited Edition Outfits, Furniture, and Poses. Joining them are 8 prominent Skin Designers, 8 Accessory Designers, and 8 Hair Designers creating limited edition exclusive hair, skins, and accessories all for the men and women of Second Life! 

Join us for the Men's opening fashion show on August 23rd, 2011 12-1pm SL and the Women's opening fashion show on August 24th 6-7pm SL as we display all of the Exclusive Limited Edition Outfits on the Runway. Our home designers are preparing special vignettes to show off all their creative collections. Our pose designers are creating special props and pose sets for everyone for all those special photo moments. We have a load of treats in store including industry parties with all of our Media Partners KMADD, AVENUE, Designing SL, Gay Archipelago, Blithe, The Nest, and many more. Wonderful exclusive fashion shows, entertainers, and great events are just the tip of the iceberg! 

Be distinctive, show your own personal style in your clothing, home decor, and photos. Be an original! All of the outfits, home items, and pose sets you see will be up for sale with only 110 being produced. 100 to be sold to the general public, 5 for bloggers & magazines, and 5 for models. You can find more details on the event including, interviews with some of the designer, participants, calendar, and all the latest details at Siren Productions. http://sirenproductionsl.com 

We hope to see everyone there! 

Sincerely,

Lexie Jansma & Alon Alphaville

Siren Productions CEO

http://sirenproductionsl.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sirenproductions/

Another Pet Peeve: Tinting Skin

Let me start this post by posting a (somewhat shortened) conversation I had with my dear friend Starlight Gentil today. The conversation reminded me of how long I have had this pet peeve.

s ţ α rℓ ίg ђ ţ: Hey Bock ! thank you for the invite ....  I'll be there ! yay !! hugs Star

Bock McMillan: YAY! You're so welcome sweetie, so happy we will see each other  again!

s ţ α rℓ ίg ђ ţ: :)))

Bock McMillan: Now begone please, I have to fit a bulge on my swimsuit and get the skin color  on the penis bit right... LOL

s ţ α rℓ ίg ђ ţ: OMG !! haha ...I'm picturing that !!

s ţ α rℓ ίg ђ ţ: Enjoy!!

Bock McMillan: ROFL - I cannot understand why the stores don't hand out cards with the RGB of the skins: Would that be so damned difficult?

s ţ α rℓ ίg ђ ţ: Haha... you do make me smile :)))

Bock McMillan: It's pet peeve of mine, drat the merchants

s ţ α rℓ ίg ђ ţ: Can you imagine telling peeps at work on Monday what you did on Sunday >?

Bock McMillan: LOL nooooooooooooo

s ţ α rℓ ίg ђ ţ: Exactlyyyy .haha. But these are such important issues here

s ţ α rℓ ίg ђ ţ: OK I'll be gone and let you start tinting ^^

Bock McMillan: It's a crazy world we are living in sweetie, can you believe we are here by choice?

s ţ α rℓ ίg ђ ţ: We're all weirdos .. who cares ..just enjoy

Bock McMillan: Haha will do! See you soon! Ohhh by the way this conversation is going on the blog....

s ţ α rℓ ίg ђ ţ: Oops ! ;D

Bock McMillan: ROFL

s ţ α rℓ ίg ђ ţ: grinz

No, it's not my own "attachment"

Ever since I rezzed in SecondLife some 6 + years ago I have had a problem with tinting the skin of penises, or rather six days after I rezzed. Before that I was hanging around at the arrival place trying to get myself to look half-decent.

Can you imagine what the first thing I looked for in Inventory was once I had seen myself naked? Yup, you got it - a penis. I couldn't for the life of me understand the cruelty of people letting a male avatar rez without having a penis handy, not even a flaccid one. "Damn holier-than-thou Yanks" I thought and then calmed myself with the thought that surely there must be a solution to this major malfunction.

Well, within an hour of venturing out of the arrival place, I had been handed three atrocious penises by male avatars who wanted me to service them. The penises were absolutely ugly, both in shape and especially coloring.  Is there really anything uglier in the whole world than a mismatched penile-attachment?

This problem has remained all through my SecondLife. While Ars lived he would help me with tinting, but since he passed away I am on my own with this and not doing great I am not afraid to tell you.

One of the earliest skins I bought in SecondLife was the Dante skin, I think it was sold by something called Naughty Designs. That skin came with a flaccid penis matched to the skin tone, but other than that I have only encountered  one more merchant that supplied skins with penises and that is The Fallen Gods, who supply penile-attachments free of charge in the correct tints.

The skin tinting problem used to be only a problem for male avatars, women did not have similar appendages - as we all knew long before we took Biology 101. That was true until mesh came along, with mesh feet and shoes that need to be matched with the skin the problem is now one that both genders struggle with.

Skin-merchants, when will you take responsibility and realize that it is a serious problem for residents because it is so difficult to properly match the skin of the body with the skin of the penis and other attachments? Why the hell can't you supply us with a card telling us the RGB of the skin  or a texture so that we can tint our penises and other attachments with some ease?

Avatar Appearances

Its important how you look, not crucial, but still important. Sometime during Pride week one of my immediate "friends" (huh?) told me very kindly that I looked old, which set me out on a hunt for a new skin. I have spent most of my time since, when I do not assist my cantankerous builder/interior decorator Butch Diavolo, with searching for a new skin that I would feel happy and content in.

I ended up buying four (4) skins in three (3) days, because I momentarily thought I liked them. After using them a short while everything about the new skin just feels "wrong" in a powerful way. It is silly really, because my avatar is not really me, but still I have to feel good and comfortable in every aspect of it.

So I have now - for the time being at least - decided to stay with the skin I have had for two years. All the new ones feel too shiny and oily. Besides they all also seem to have too much eyeliner on, wearing the skins I feel like a man of ill-repute in a Moroccan bordello. What do I care if I look old, I prefer aging gracefully than to look as if I was desperately trying to be more youthful than I am., Growing older is still better than the only other option.

Speaking of eyeliners, following a comment on my blog yesterday I came across an interesting post on Nigel Riel's blog Trials of Eyeliner (I have added it to my blogroll now) that deals with avatar shapes.

Apparently there is a rule of thumb concerning human - and hence also human avatars - proportions, saying that an adult humans height should on average ideally be around 7½ heads high, with the rest of the body parts spaced in as you see from this picture on Nigel's blog.

Image by Nigel Riel

In my life as an avatar I have of course come across the usual accusations from those in SecondLife who believe that we should all try to emulate reality in-world also and it is therefore somehow "morally wrong" to be the normal 2,20 m tall, the same rule seems to apply on overly muscular bodies. To them I say, "Bite me!"

Oh speaking of proportions, reality and heads, did I ever tell you about the two supposedly artists that at separate occasions have IM'd me to inform me that my head "is too small compared to the rest of your body". They both looked like dogshit in their perfectly proportioned bodies, by the way. Being the kind man I am, I did not tell them that but merely answered that, I liked my head fine and that the head actually doesn't grow when you pump up your body. Of course they could have meant compared to my height, in which case they would have been correct, but as I remember it they said nothing about my height.

Well, I don't care one bit about "reality" in avatar appearance, but I do strive to be proportionate. Using the guidelines that Nigel points to in his post Trials of Eyeliner: Monday Meme – 6-24, I am going to give my avatar an overhaul on proportions. Hopefully it will help me plenty in the avatar meat race!

The Rhino Writers Broadcasting Party

SL Live Radio broadcast party at the Rhino Writers pavilion at SL10B can only be characterized as a thundering success.

DJ's Johny Alderton and Heloq Tomsen kept all of us in an excellent mood with their music and chat. The crowd was lively and and in excellent spirits so we all had a good time. Among other things I learned that Heloq is from Italy and that his name is pronounced "Ghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-elo-kkkk".

Butch, myself & Guyke

From a strictly personal point of view there were a few added benefits and some drawbacks, which I will list for you here (What is it with me and lists these days, this must be the tenth in just a few days..?)

Benefits

1. I got to meet Dodo, my most dedicated reader (which was proven by the fact that he was the only one who had read my post on saggy pants)
2. Vampi Twine-DeSantis-McMillan-McMillan (honorary) was there, I had not met her in a long time.
3. Bastien Berboral kindly shared a few  landmarks to shops I had never heard of after showing me pics of their awesome clothing lines.

Drawbacks

1. My son told me that, "Face lights are so 80's!" (I am so not going to share my new landmarks with him.)
2. My friend Butch told me that my beautiful skin is "OLD!". If I had newer skin I would not need face lights, was his reasoning.

Well I guess that's what you have family and friends for, to tell you the awful truth when you need to hear it. The only problems are that I feel ugly without the face light - as the old-timer that I am - and I love my skin. Oh well, maybe I do need to update my appearances, but it will be a struggle.... 

It Ain't Cheap To Look Good

Bock as a noob dancing at Badboy Plaza

My buddy Eddi Haskell has a new poll running on his blog Eddi Haskell´s Second Life, asking How Much Do You Spend To Look Good in SecondLife?

Take the poll, please, I am so looking forward to see the final results.

I will not share with you how much I spend, but if you look at the picture above I am sure you can guess it took some hard work, many cosmetic surgeries (with shape and skin changes), AO´s to get rid of the "duckwalk" and a more than a few Lindens on a decent wardrobe and accessories to make that hideous noob look as halfway good as I do today.

The picture above shows me in my third or fourth month in SecondLife. I had just managed to buy the Pride Flag after about 25 hours of "camping". Soon afterwards I plugged in my credit card to SecondLife and the ugly duckling turned into the swan you see today, or close.

This is the only snapshot from my early days that I have found in my Inventory yet, I know there should be some more but I haven't taken the time to go through my 2,000+ snapshots and textures yet. Unfortunately I also remember how I at one point started deleting things from my early days (I will never do that again), but I am hoping there may still be some I overlooked